Immortality | Story Explained, Narrative Analysed 

Follow-Up video breaking down who is The One! ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-jRa2CRtEbkI.html Thanks all for your support on the video 💙

You've missed a few key clips that show the One and the Other One are actual entities. They literally devoured people and became them. The clip you show where Carl walks in and kisses John is the first clip after the Other One consumes Carl. He says to her, "Long time no see," and then does something overt that the buttoned up carl would never do, Marissa/the One even screams "no!" at the end when she realized what has happened. His demeanor is so different than every other bts scene we see. As filming continues, she tells john about what she was and what the Other One was, and they agreed to keep doing the movie. When she can't take his mockery anymore, she kills the Other One. Sometime after the movie ends, she consumes John and becomes him. Thus why his interview has the One when played in reverse, and no one has seen Marissa in years. She didn't exist anymore. She talks in many clips previously that people can be two people, "the two marys were one person". When john/the One started making "Call me Dangerous (?)", he/she both fell in love with the actress amy, and felt a second chance to create the greatest story ever. He showed amy Minksy (which was never released) and she saw carl's real death scene, and the Other One got inside of her (a very important clip you didn't show). John started making 2oE, and literally brought Marissa back from nothing, becoming two people, both in love with amy/the other one. The one says this explicitly at one point. It's also plays into the theme of the movie itself, Two of Everything. This is the reason John aged while Marissa seemingly didn't, he lived those years while Marissa didn't exist. While trying to make this movie, the One can't handle doing everything herself, and begins to come apart. We hear John mysteriously disappear every time Marissa has a bleeding episode, because she couldn't keep up both people. Towards the end, we see her and John collapse at the same time. When she finally can't even get through a scene without bleeding from the head, she talks amy/the Other One into burning her to death on film, so the same way the Other One lived on would happen to the One. She talks about finding a way to immortality, through getting into people minds, dispersing through them. So while all of your sort of meta analysis of what happened is spot on as allegory for art and filmmaking (people being taken advantage of for art, overworking and killing themselves for it, the muse and the doubt always at war), it's pretty clear that there is a ground truth to what they were.

So I think this is where your interpretation runs awry: Marissa died after The One consumed her, towards the end of World War II. Every instance of Marissa we see is The One using her likeness, decades later. The people you don't recognize in the subversive clips? That's other likenesses The One has used. One of those likenesses -- the older black man -- is the likeness that The One used when she consumed Marissa, which you see in one of the subversive scenes. The One later kills John Diurick at the end of Minsky, and so takes on his likeness for the next couple decades, directing movies as him. But in the 90's, she starts to miss being Marissa, so she revives that likeness. What goes wrong through the production of Two of Everything is that The One is trying to maintain both personas at the same time. That's why Marissa starts spontaneously bleeding, and why BOTH Marissa and John collapse in certain scenes. The One is wearing herself out, exhausting herself to death. The other part I think you missed is that, after The Other One Dies and is cremated, he is miraculously revived -- both a surprise to himself, and The One -- when Amy watches the old footage. He became Amy. So when Marissa is burned at the end, this is The One trying to be reborn in the same way: someone will watch the footage, and she will be reborn. And that's what the very ending means, when all the slides disappear and she says she's now a part of you: she's being reborn *in you*, in the same way The Other One was reborn in Amy.

I played this game in the middle of the night. The “I see you” unsettled me more than anything else has in a very long time.

We’re so conditioned to expect “the hidden lore you missed” in stories that it is a real challenge to articulate that the mystery and lack of clarity can be the point. I think you weaved that explanation in here really well. Sometimes you can’t say who the muse chooses or what form it takes.

The One and the Other are immortal beings. They have discovered a way of preserving their immortality through film. I think part of them literally survives in film, waiting for some unexpecting viewer to stumble upon these reels of footage so the can take over their souls. When the viewer sees Marissa Marcel burn, The One jumps through the 4th wall and take over the body of the view, like the Other did to Amy.

This means so much to me! Thank you.

I thought I would love Immortality because I was a huge fan of Her Story, but I didn't have the patience to finish it. Typing new words in a search box was a simple to understand how you could uncover new clips: you just needed to type something you hadn't typed before. In Immortality however, I found myself constantly clicking on random things with no rhyme or reason hoping they would lead me to a new clip I hadn't seen before, and they truly felt random because I had no way to know how they would relate to what I clicked either. In the end I got tired of blindly clicking on stuff and decided to wait for a lore video to put the pieces of the puzzle together, so thank you for making this video.

I just played through it and it was very impressive how good the acting was, acting as someone acting as someone has got to get confusing sometimes.

While the idea of the one and the other being metaphors is cool, I think they are actual, sentient beings that adopted the likenesses of Marissa, John, Carl, and Amy. That would explain why both Marissa and John still look so young, 30 years later.

My main issue was the terrible blonde wig. Lmao. But otherwise I’ve never been as terrified as I was when I saw “the one” for the first time, when I went into this game blind.

There's a negative you probably missed during Minsk, the one explains she is a parasite, when she bites a host she takes over the body. And she can control multiple hosts, at the third film she controls both Marissa and John, and at the end of the game she controls you the player.

Did you unlock the scene with The One being interviewed on the talk show? I think that explained a lot for me

Ah, great to see someone giving Charlotta Mohlin the shout-out she deserves ...was utterly transfixed by her performance (Must admit I took to referring to her character and The Other One as 'The Max Headrooms' while playing/discussing, but I think this was to offset the extreme eerieness they created as much as anything!). Really hope she wins an award. Your breakdown of the films was super-helpful! (I do subscribe to the 'Vampire' theory though - the 'death by fire' and amount of neck injuries seems to imply something like that, not to mention the whole 'consumption' theme. I'm fine with that sitting undeneath the rest of it though as a kind of flavour, though - all those other things can still be right.) Really interesting stuff. Watching this has scratched an itch I still had after putting hours into the game - thanks. 👍

As someone that watched you play through all of this and still had no idea what the hell was going on you've created a very impressive piece of content here mate and actually made this mindfuck of a game make total sense! Ps Marissa Marcel I think I love you

Intrigued by the story but did not have the patience for this. So very much appreciate your summary, which you share wonderfully. Thank you sir.

Your interpretation of Carl seems to only make sense in isolation of the other one inhabitanting him. Carl is uncomfortable of Marrisa because Marissa is an unconventional women who asks questions. Carl is not used to that and his a man from the 70s so is knee jerk reaction is to be dismissive of that. The gay sexual undertones are only there when the other one is inhabiting him ans thus he is no longer the same person he was.

Carl and John do not have a sexual or intimate relationship with eachother as you reference at 18:58, during that scene is the first time that "The One" notices that Carl has been possessed by "The Other". If you watch the behind the scenes clip where Marissa interviews the cast of three artists (two girls and a guy), you can see a woman walk into the room and start whispering to the two girls on the couch. If you watch the subverted clip of that scene, you can see that "The Other" has found Marissa and has inhabited that woman (as you see he is wearing the same clothes as her) and is spreading whispers and gossip throughout the set of Minsky, creating jealousy between Carl and John. You can see this during the interrogation scene with Carl and one of the women as she whispers to him "You know that Marissa is sleeping with John right". Since he has started to fall for Marissa at this point, this information throws his whole aura and attitude toward Marissa off, and this is seen by uncomfortable situations between him and Marissa henceforth. That scene you show at 18:58, where Carl says "Long time, no see" is really "The Other" addressing "The One" and letting her know that he has now taken over Carl. Marissa and Carls relationship then becomes increasingly strained during their bathroom sex scene, where due to jealousy over Marissa with John, Carl actually penetrates Marissa, instead of just acting, to which she goes "what was that?" and his sexual assault towards her leads her to kill him, purposely, being influenced by "The One" knowing of "The Other's" influence over Carl. Just wanted to straighten that out.

The one and other one are actual Monsters, (supernatural beings at least) not an allegory... Amy watches the other die, and the other is reborn in her body in the process... The ending is the one doing the same, but, in a shattering of the fourth wall, is rebirthing herself in you, the viewer. ...spooky 😨

Yeah it seemed so strange to me that she never aged by 1999 nor did the director guy, thanks for the breakdown. You have made alot more sense of it than I had by the time the credits rolled.

37:28 these are other people that One had taken their form (or consume). She is not a vampire but an immortal being that had also had the role of Jesus, Adam(the other one) and Eve and Marisa from ww2! I think One is possessing Marisa a long time ( without ageing) and that is why she is having blood on her head, the body is failing. That is why she askes Amy (the other one) to kill her with fire. She wants to become more, like the other one who managed to possess a viewer through a film (Amy). One succeeds as she is talking to you (the player) and she "is part of you now" 😉

You mentioned the vampire interpretations elsewhere online. I wonder if we can cast aside the noun "vampire," which is the fanged creature, for the adjective "vampiric" as a metaphor for the many layers of predation and consumption we see in the game. Because the game works on many multiplying layers, we may look beyond the three layers you mention. The game players, us, are also an agent in the game and a voracious consumer of other people's stories. The fact that we drive the narrative situates us not as a passive audience, like when we watch a movie, but as agents of the narrative; thus, we are implicated in Marissa's consumption. We are the consumers. Also, I wonder if interpretations of the game may get caught up in an either/or binary: Marissa is the victim and the men are the predators. Clearly, the game has a good dose of a victim/predator binary, but I am particularly struck by some of the scenes from "Ambrosio" where Marissa is not just observed but she gains some control over the narrative through her sexuality. She does this in her second film as well. For example, in the scene when she is between the two masks, her visage is practically demonic. Later, she is responsible for Carl's death after she spent much of "Minsky" (sp) trying to get Carl under her control. He always appeared uncomfortable, but he didn't seem to be able to do much about it. The game may be a comment on the mechanics of creation in film, games, art, etc.... In order to create something, one must enter a mechanism or dynamic of constantly shifting passivity/innocence and consumption/predation. A good real life translation of this theme can be seen in all of the chaos surrounding Olivia Wilde's latest film "Don't Worry Darling." The story surrounding the making-of her film has some many creepy layers of exploitation, and I have been so oblivious about my consumption of these stories that I have ignored my own complicity in the proliferation of more and more click bait-y articles about the whole drama. Yet, I know that I know I am one of many, many other people who have been swarming the news.

At one point in the game I became convinced that what you call "The One", is actually TWO. One, as you said, is The Art, and the other is the norms, laws and constraints that we have created to limit The Art.

i love that you've resisted a literal interpretation of the one and the other one as supernatural beings but i'm struggling to do that myself with some of the reversed clips and especially the double/triple reverses. the clips with the black man especially, it seems to me its heavily implied that he was previously "possessed" by the one and was present in France when she "transferred" to Marissa. i honestly prefer to go with a more metaphorical explanation as you've done but the text makes it hard

Thank you for putting in the time to do this. Not just this video, but all the ones before. You are always doing excellent work.

I interpreted The One as an external being to Marissa. She kills John and assumes control over his body (there are a couple scenes where The One does all John's dialogue) but she spreads herself too thin and ends up dying. John also isn't present after Marissa dies. The Other One takes over Amy to help.

“extremely naked” lol this is a fantastic wrap up, and I am very grateful for this level of work because while I adored every second of this game, once I hit credits, I needed some time (and also because I had a few hidden clips that just refused to play no matter when I did) and it was helpful to get all the info in one concise place. I like your interpretation of the One and the Other, but I think the fact that John’s “death” is unexplained points to them being both a metaphor and literally a supernatural creature. I saw an explanation that made sense to me that John “died” because the One was bringing him and Marissa back (perhaps in an attempt to recapture what was lost on Minsky). the work of making them both exist was what caused the intense strain that led to her “death”. this also helps support the third wall breaking of the end, that they realize that their death captured on film allows them to take on anyone that watches, much like the One took on Marissa initially. (of course that means we are all now possessed so… whoops. there’s the horror part of the game.) the brilliance of this game, to me, is not the air tight narrative or perfect metaphors. it’s the conversations and debates and rumination. it’s something special.

Amazing video- got choked up at the final bit. May I ask where I can find that specific arrangement of Martin Hall’s “Without the Fever”?

The montage in the last section was incredibly well done. Really made me appreciate the game even more - great job!

Came here because of the Jacob Geller video. Damn these last 7 minutes, incredible.

This video definitely deserves more appreciation! You did an amazing work, keep it up! Also, I was just thinking, if Sam Barlow decided to add the final chapter of your video as a final presentation before the credits rolled, the general explanation of MM's story would be so much better and coherent than what is currently in the game (as you already mentioned).

I'll be honest I haven't even heard of this game, I'm just here because I love the way you lay out game stories

So glad I found your explanation. Just played 10 hours straight, really addictive but as credits rolled I really had no idea what was going on so thank you for sharing. Game wise, I would have preferred it if the player could concentrate on one movie at a time. The switching between the 3 films so often when clicking things just made me lose any sense of storyline. Think overall I preferred Telling Lies as didn't break my brain as much but acting in this one was incredible

that ending sequence is really beautiful

My understanding is Marissa and John are being controlled by the same spirit(the one) by the third film. You can see at the end of minsk, the negative film of the interview shows the one taking the interview instead of John, and before that you see John being consumed by the one. Driving two bodies at the same time is what killed the one in the end too. This is also fore shadowed by the plot of the 3rd movie.

My interpretation was that The One is a sort of demon representing our desire to make evocative art unhindered by consequences. Marissa, being a young, naive actress is a perfect candidate and Fischer cultivates and feeds this demon inside her until The Other takes control and pleasure out of the pain, much as us, the viewer takes pleasure in the drama of the on-set antics and thrills of the films. Throughout the game the lines between real sex and fake sex, real violence and fake violence are blurred repeatedly, and perhaps like Method Acting, Marissa can no longer differentiate and becomes the characters she is acting. In the final scenes of the game when The Other says "I see you" and "I am a part of you" I believe she is saying we have taken too much pleasure in watching violence and sex on screen that we have now invited the same demon in us. The game starts by showing how moviemakers are pushing actors too far, then it shows how Marissa herself is pushing too hard, and finally the game ends with indicting the viewers as pushing the industry too hard. Perhaps it is an ancient evil waiting inside us all.

The most haunting aspect of this is that the One strove for a very human form of celluloid immortality, yet through the passion she had and the choices she made, she doomed the three films to obscurity by dint of the mortal reactions by us ordinary folk to the circumstances she wrought (“you can’t release a film if the main protagonist/director has been…etc.”) All kicked off by Fisher’s gut reaction to the visceral non-cinematic universe that his cast was creating. Brilliant.

i spent a solid four hours on this game trying to figure out what i was missing and you showed me in a solid 2 seconds flat that if you rewind it, things change. Never felt so stupid in my life.

Through art and creativity we humans become channels for something "greater" (or lesser). A lot of artists look at it like their channeling the spirit realm/spirits. These can be good spirits or they can be bad ones. We can go into demons, angels, muses all that stuff but let's not get wrapped up in labeling them/it. This makes art a very deep, beautiful, vulnerable and sometimes even dangerous and scary ritual. Connecting to the unknown, to the mystery should be the joy of your life, the thing that makes you as a human more vital, loving and caring. What this games does very well is relating the toxic culture of "Hollywood" to channeling lesser spirits. The toxic context becomes an environment where lesser spirits can thrive and perpetuate their existence (becoming immortal). Art becomes vampiric instead of revitalizing.

Beautiful and excellent video. While I may not agree 100% with everything, this video alone elevated Immortality to a whole other level. Your interpretations were great and it certainly gave me a lot to think about. But that rise and fall of Marcel.... Best part of it all. Thank you for making this

incredible montage at the end, very illuminating but also just beautiful

This analysis is top tier!!! Appreciate the work this one

Thank you, after playing a bit and being confused out of my mind watching this has helped me grasp the art behind the game. Amazing.

This game is a great argument for intimacy coordinators on set...

I was engrossed in the game for the first 4 hours. after that I was was entertained a bit longer until I had looped back to the same scene for the 10th time and looked at the clock and realized I didn't have any more free time and I didn't know how much more could possibly be left to discover. I had made the assumption that "the one" and "the others" were meant to be some type of demons embodied by Marissa's emotions. Overall I loved the intrigue and mystery of it all but I don't think the mechanics were implemented well. I still don't even know how to effectively use the icons on the upper left hand side of the grid screen. I stumbled on my first "secret" scene unknowingly scrubbing through the clip trying to investigate the meaning of that low synth wave sound. and then a creepy image of and older lady between 2 seemingly dead men with blood on there necks popped onto my screen and i nearly fell out of my chair. that was pretty good. this will be a game that sticks with me for a while and I would gladly pay to play another in the future. the acting was out of this world, and the plots of the 3 movies were good and engaging. I admire the work that went into the game. I like it when games are logical so I hope that my interpretation of "the others" being demons is wrong. and I also hope they aren't vampires lol.

Thanks for this video, I was looking for something like this after finishing the game. Greetings from Argentina!

What a brilliant analysis, thank you very much! The film synopses + Marissa Marcel's story are so well summarized with your own insight that I immediately subscribed.

Amazing video thank you for making this!

When you take "the One" and "the Other One" as more literal it starts to make more sense. They are 4th dimensional beings "Man has conquered the surface of the planet, Space, but we have conquered time." And are able to inhabit different people throughout time (that's who those people are in those weird flashbacks). She even makes reference to having inhabited the Virgin Mary and Jesus Christ. They are immortal as long as they are not burned, which is why the one had Carl (the Othe One) cremated. But he came back through the power of film when Amy watched the Minsky footage and saw Carl (The Other One) die on screen. You are also able to see The One inhabit John in the post-mortem talk show appearance after Minsky meaning "The One" is now inhabiting John and helps him have an incredible directing career (You can even kind of see that sort of transfer when she so called "drinks his blood" in one scene). Eventually she decides to bring back Marissa and try to inhabit both at once (which is why John disappears during some table reads) but it is too difficult and leads to tons of complications. Eventually after she learns how the other one came back through film and decides she needs the same thing burning Marissa specifically on camera and breaking the 4th wall ("I see you"). And then there's the ending shot of course where she says "I'm part of you now". We have watched the footage and are now the creative housing for "The One" in effect making her immortal through film. Sorry for the absurdly long comment but after hearing Rebekah Valentine on Kinda Funny's spoilercast of this game it made WAY too much sense.

I went all in on the mythology angle. Full on possible spoilers for The One and The Other A muse devours her subject, Marissa Marcel, to live through her from the start of her career. That's not how it's supposed to go, they're just supposed to be parasitic until nothing is left then they take that remnant with them (The first director seems to react to both muses, and blood around the mouth implies the feeding throughout). The muse might have done this at least twice before(two unexplained characters). The first muse runs into a second muse who's a bit appalled but intrigued. There's a biblical suggestion that the first muse tempts the second muse with knowledge, like they did before (It's implied they were behind the garden of Eden parable, Satan as a concept, and Jesus which might have been the first muse's first full possession...or maybe that was Mary...both of them...that could have been literal or inspirational...might explain why there's such a long gap before Marissa). The muse gets into a relationship with John the photography lead, and acts as inspiration for him to become a director. The second muse possesses someone, potentially for the first time (that's what I got out of it anyway, the second muse is made to be oppositional by being more conservative and literal). The second muse chooses another to possess and they end up working together as male and female leads in a film. They end up in a bad love triangle with the director John, the first muse 'kills' the second and is unable to resolve the relationship with John so devours him (there's a scene reminiscent of the minsky murder but it's John drained through the neck. We then see the muse as John in the next night show interview). The muse tries to give directing a try, and runs into and reignites a relationship with second muse, as Amy. This happens over 3 decades but is not witnessed as it does not involve Marissa but John. It's implied there's been some success as he's able to bankroll the third film, which has implications as to why its filming feels rushed towards the end. This ends with the third movie, as the muse was running out of inspiration and decided as one last hurrah to bring Marissa back (The mocap scene suggests this as the muse has split multiple ways). I want to say its a try at literally passing the acting torch to herself by bridging generations, as there are two performers in the table scenes who are never shown, and one might be a devoured younger Marissa look-a-like (this 3rd person is admittedly conjecture, but the John/Marissa dual natures for the third film seems pretty clear). The burn the candle at both ends shown in the performers is literal, the muse gives up being John to power through as Marissa (and the double?) but the body(ies) give out and the second muse frees the first from Marissa Marcel. Death of the Author happens in front of us, and thus we are now all the muse (Which to me is the implication of the second muse's death, Amy is but one of the second muses possessions when she sees a private viewing of the muse's onscreen death).

Okay, after watching your breakdown, I think I have a good idea. The "vampiric" other people you mention are past people that the one inhabited. She keeps their memories and the weight of their stories in time. She cremates the other, killing him. But, he's captured in film, and through film is able to inhabit Amy in a new way, untethered to her flesh, cohabitating with her. The one wants the same, that freedom of not being tied to an individual, so she has him burn her and she now infects people through film the same way, as she does to you. Immortal, and no longer imprisoned.

Just finished this game (credits rolled) not 4 hours ago. I had always planned on going back to collect the clips I was missing but This definitely provided a much clearer picture of what I should be looking for, or intuning. I'm still working through my own interpretation and I feel like I will end up in a similar place as you but this is definitely the kind of fertile ground that set my brain moving in ways that make it impossible to know where it will end up. I feel a strong urge to write about this game, but I haven't figure out how I want to do that yet. Oddly, most of all it made me reflect on Her Story much stronger. I like what Sam Barlow puts to play so far, and I can't wait to see where he goes with it next.

I’m so glad I found this! There were so many details I was missing and couldn’t quite put together. This was an art piece in itself! So well done. I might have to break out and play the other games you’ve broken down now, as I’m really not a gamer but love these immersive experiences

This was pretty fantastic as an analysis and literary critique. Subscribed. Great new content creator.

Oh thanks a lot for the time you put into the making of this video. I have played for about 5hs and reached the The One’s face, which blocked completely my game so I cannot go further 😅. But besides that I can really see how much content I have missed! I completely agree with you about the timing of “the face” appearance and lack of guidance when you first arrive to the game. Even after the face showed up I tried to unlock more stuff and I was like… ok what am I looking for? I liked the first hours of the game but as a gamer I kinda missed a motivation/completion. I do like the debate it generates though! Thanks again this was a great video and I can imagine how much time you put into it.🎉

I think she (the one) is a vampire of sorts, and vampires work by taking over mortals and giving them immortality while they are in their bodies. The vampire also boosts the talent of the host, as she brings a lot of experience and passion to the host and she works on a deeper level, with motivation of an immortal being are drastically different and are much more soul searching, self-actualization and are art/metaphysics skewed, basically the highest point on the Maslow’s pyramid. However, a vampire has a love relationship with the host and a passion of the new body can/will go away just as human relationships usually have an ending and so a vampire can get bored of the body and then she leaves for a new host. As I understand she moves to the director’s body at the end of the second movie to try and live as a creator, not as an object, but then gets deeply disappointed in him and decides to resurrect Marissa, moves out of the director’s body, director becoming an automaton as a result, a dying man with no passions or talents. Finally she comes to an end of a lifecycle of an immortal but passionate and imperfect being, as she no longer can grow or learn things in a profound way, becomes old not physically, but metaphysically, gets to a sort of a dead end from which she can get away only by burning and being cleansed/reborn in maybe a buddhist sense of restarting at a higher level of capacity of understanding of the world but by losing the actual experience/thinking patterns that keep her down. As I understand the Other followed that same path, and this is then the immortality on a grand, cosmic scale. So basically buddhism+vampires 😊

I honestly don't understand how you still don't have millions of subs. Amazing content, really. Keep it up!

Wow man! Your videos are so well edited and insightful.

I kinda thought the one and the other could be angels or fallen angels taking on a human host and eventually the body couldn't handle it any more. Or perhaps a muse who took things too far.

so the scene where Amy is shown the footage of The Other One Dying - this seems to me both the strongest point for a literal interpretation of the immortals as a real entities with agency that control the characters. However there are many questions as to whether this scene is literal. Some questions I raise: Why are we seeing this at all? Marissa took Amy to a movie theater and convinced her to watch a snuff film; and film her doing it? All the behind-the-scenes footage we see is done as part of production or press. It makes sense as to why we see the after parties, etc. This is not. To my knowledge we don't see a possession scene for Carl, right? (Then again - all the footage we see is real, or its the Immortals interrupting real footage. So that implies this must have actually happened in some form...) The footage is shown on film, as it would have looked with the cameras of the time. Additionally the candid stuff is shot on a different kind of film as you can tell from the smaller "thumbnails" presumably a different mm. But the 4th wall breakers are crystal clear, shot in cinematic "letterbox" shape. This footage of Amy seeing the movie is shot like this, implying to me it is not a "home movie" taken outside. Again to take this shot Marissa would have needed to drag a huge camera into a movie theater and spun it around Amy It's especially strange because to my knowledge this is the only scene that breaks the game's premise - that you are watching pieces of film. If you're watching the scene of Marissa shooting Carl, it essentially match cuts _for the player_ into this other scene. Or I guess you could assume that the footage of Carl's death is actually footage of Marissa filming Amy watching Carl's death on screen the entire time; that you don't have the original film, just a copy of it and the only place it can be seen is in the scene-within-a-scene

love your "supercut" at the end!

I think the one and the other are witches who lived into art like paints, music and movies its a surreal concept that defines the videogames are now art and the witch is living in the game just with the final línes “now im Part of you”

I think the one takes control of John too. That’s why he disappears and passes out. And appears to be not there in that table read scene

The final montage is amazing, absolutely incredible. It puts so many things in perspective without the need for more words. Congrats!

This was incredibly helpful, thank you so much!!!! I got to the credits and was very disappointed, but there was so much more I missed that I didn’t realize existed until I watched this. Some of the reverse videos trigger at normal speed reverse, but others I thought were just ghostly images and didn’t realize all those videos could be triggered with a different controll mechanism! I thought people were just making up explanations in articles I was reading. 😅

I know Lynch probably won't play this game, but I hope he watches your video man, it was great. Also the game is like nothing else.

Was für ein tolles Video, dass du hier produziert hast. Vielen Dank für deine Erklärung und der hilfreichen Aufbereitung.

To help possibly answer your questions: it’s mentioned that The One was possibly “asleep” or “waiting” during the time between Minsky and ToE, which could possibly explain why she doesn’t age. She mentions reawakening/coming back in Marissas form. There’s also a scene where The One kills John after revealing her true form to her, which could explain why he dies during filming. Also, the two random people that appear could possibly be other life’s that The One has “devoured”, just like she did to Marissa.

I wouldn't go with that metaphoric interpretation, I don't believe that's the intention. It's pretty clear, by how they talk about Virgin Mary, Adam, Eve, Jesus... in the subverted clips, that they're some kind of "celestial immortal beings" (hence the name). Also, I think The One was somehow controlling Marissa AND John at the same time in the last movie, that's why John doesn't show up in the subverted clips, or even The One is dressed and acting like him sometimes. And why they fade at the same time, place and position. They also talk about how they're time beings, and about how the light travels from the skin of the actors to our eyes. And that's the new way of jumping between bodies that they discovered.

Great video, it's feels to me that it's a newer version of games that broke away like "Norm" and made something a little off the cuff from what is the trend. Interesting how art, music & movies have now bleed into the gaming industry... fantastic time to be alive.

I appreciate your clip that really explains what the game is to me. Thanks bro! Will continue following your clips in the future.

Your review of the movies was excellent, pointing out several details that are easily missed like the number of takes. But your review of the One and Other is too metaphorical. The One tells us who they are: immortal symbiotic parasites. They grant humans art and inspiration by feeding upon them and eventually killing them. Also, it is extremely important to understand that Marissa Marcel (MM) has been DEAD for the entirely of this game. She was killed by the One in the form of the Old Man during WWII. But these beings have the ability to bring back the form of prior hosts, and this is what the One does with MM to continue to explore art (and why she does not age). The One finds greater meaning in this than the Other, who understands that this cycle of inspiration and feeding is simply their nature, which infuriates the One. One can now get more metaphorical by noting that the real process of creating art can be likened to the terrible toll it takes on the creators and actors, but is explained here fictionally by being a reflection of what these parasites are doing. At the end of Minsky, we learn two important things. First, the One takes on the persona of John Durick (JD) and is a successful director for 30 years up until Two of Everything. Second, it has been pointed out several times by the One that immolation is the one sure way to kill these beings. But the Other discovers a way out: if they are observed dying by fire, they can be reborn in the observer. This is how the Other comes back: by being observed by Any. And the end of the game is the One being observed by US, and we are now the hosts of the One! One final point is that, like MM is playing both Maria and Heather, the One is playing both MM and JD during the last film, which is why JD is exhausted and often missing (and eventually dies), The One is warned by the Other that they cannot maintain this dual form, and in the end immolates them with us watching so that the One can continue in a new refreshed form, having completely used up MM. As you say, there is plenty of ambiguity in the hidden footage, but my summary above is what you get if you take everything they say at near face value. YMMV

Great, emotional cut at the end. Thank you, man!

I think there's also a biblical metanarrative here. From the very obvious placement of apples, snakes, the One and the Other One often appearing naked together as if Adam and Eve, the literal reference of Marissa being like Eve in a movie poster, the the frequent inferences that blood is spiritually important, etc. The impression I was left with was that the Other One was God who had lost faith in humanity and was trying to leave them behind and the One as Lucifer who still believed in humanity and tried to mold them through art. They frequently discuss things being "like they used to when they were close" as before Lucifer's fall from grace. One scene the One mentions that the Other One died before and inspired humanity (presumably as Jesus) and she wanted to do that too. He says that she chose "them over me" as Lucifer fell from grace because he wanted to be closer to imperfect humanity instead of perfect godly angels. At least that's the impression I got.

Discovered your channel through this video, it's incredible I hope more discover your channel through this video aswell

I love how these clips look like they're from old movies while they were literally shot around 2021 - 2022.

The montage at the end was beautiful! I played on iPad and I think it made it way more difficult, besides the fact that my game bugged toward the end before I uncovered all the hidden scenes. I don't totally connect with your interpretation, I think there is a literal supernatural narrative to it besides the metaphors, but it's an interesting angle that adds depth. I would say it's not a game for everyone, it has an obtuse play style - especially at first - but it is very rewarding once you start understanding pieces of the story. It's also a very meta game, even more towards the end in 2oE since it's like a person pretending to be a person pretending to be a person, all that in a game with actors pretending to be characters. Since I'm one to fall into rabbit holes, I loved it! I'm also someone who prefer games for storytelling rather than complex gameplay. I'm trying Her Story next :)

Dude I love videogame analysis After watching immortality I understood some stuff so I decided to watch an analysis video And ur video is so fuckin impressive I reaaally liked the last 5 minute montage section of the video too🔥🔥🔥 I like ur style of analysis and this is why I'm subscribing to u. It's like I've struck gooooold (guess wt am I referencing ;) ).

I feel like the metaphorical interpretation is how it connects the threads of the story, BUT The One is both Marissa AND John in Two of Everything. Look at the second TV interview that features John. In The One's perspective she gives the exact same dialogue for the interview as John while even wearing his clothing. Marissa even "becomes a recluse" after the movie. She disappears entirely. She mentions that both she and The Other can embody people, take them into themselves and in doing so it brings so many thoughts and memories of that person. All they have to do is literally consume a bit of them on death. She does this to at least one other person, the lead actor on Ambrosio. The scene where he tries to stab the Virgin Mary. In Her perspective he stabs Her to no avail, and she stabs him in return before tasting the blood on the knife. His behavior changes afterwards, becoming less vibrant as he was and more like what She felt She needed in a screen partner. In Two of Everything, not only is She burning the candle at both ends as Marissa, but instead She's projecting John. That's why in Her perspective The Other is all there is and John isn't present, She even reads some of his lines. It's also why they're so perfectly in sync. They're the same mind piecing together this movie. She's become the director, the writer, and the lead actress for the film, causing Her to pass out frequently. Finally it explains John missing. As She gets weaker She can't project the two of them anymore. He disappears EVERY time She loses her grip until he just no longer appears... The One gave everything of Herself to art, pured so much of her soul into the essence of film in an effort to achieve an Immortality without pointless, wasted time. Those movies never released, yet the game (Initially titled something like The Marisa Archives or something) pulls them together into something the player has to dig deeper and deeper into... Until it's finished. Your obsession has made Her immortal: inside your mind. You will likely never forget her, and you'll likely pass on the game to others. You'll make videos on it, talk to friends about it, have it influence your actions and take inspiration from it, spread its existance everywhere until so many people know about it it'll never really go away. "I'm part of you now"

Masterfully done

I like this video because it really highlights the metaphorical interpretation that I kinda missed out on, cause I usually take everything in art to be viscerally literal.

Thanks!

What detailed and insightful breakdown! Thank you!

Very interesting - I got the credits and what felt like the exact right time? After I saw the death of Carl and figured out who the One was. Also I do think they live for generations and are gods or vampires or something. Great video!

I think they are the real Eve and Adam, the first two immortal human beings cast out by God and doomed to try to make sense of their existence through an eternal 'mortal' life.

I think that so much of game and film analysis is about uncovering hidden meanings that in a game like Immortality, with a very clear "hidden" layer to uncover, people get very attached to their interpretation of that hidden layer as something truer, more real, than the surface they scratched past to find it. I think that's why people are so drawn to the immortal vampire stuff as literal, as a higher level of reality than as a metaphor or allegory. I will readily admit that there are things which make better sense through that lens. the clips leading up to the shooting in Minsky or the flashbacks to France or the vanishing of John or Marissa's physical breakdown. But does an analysis of the meaning of the entire work as a squabble between two immortals about the value of art really do a more complete job? Does it explain what we're actually "seeing" in scenes with the One saying and doing things to actors in the films that did not actually occur? Does it explain why the One sometimes has dialogues with the characters (Ambrosio for example), not the actors playing them? Does it better tell us how to interpret parallel journeys to Marissa's like Ambrosio and Sophia's affair, or Amy and John's relationship, or Naomi, an actor in a similar place in her career to Marissa in Ambrosio who is Marissa's literal double in a film about double lives called Two of Everything? I really like this video, and I like that it credits the story of the One and the Other, without discarding Marissa's story as secondary. I like having questions, and I find it fascinating that a game with so much abstract imagery, dance, song, and silence draws so many people to its most literal interpretation.

In the scene at 19:08, I am pretty sure it is the Other One, who has taken over Carl's body.

I think John isn’t in two of everything because the director doesn’t matter at that point but Marissa was closest to him during minsky which is why she sees him there and why the one assumes both

Maybe this is just because I was reading Susanna Clarke while playing, but I pretty much immediately settled on the idea that The One and The Other One were faeries, and I liked it too much to ever let that idea go

Under the "about" menu it's stated that Ambrosio was never released, but why? I never found anything that explains why Ambrosio was never released, there's even a scene where the cast and crew are celebrating the wrap up of shooting.

It was a great explaination, thanks a lot!

That was a great video man, thank you for this

That montage at the end is amazing

The final montage you made is very good!

Great stuff! Please keep making more videos!

that was an amazing analysis, thanks!

I missed my chance to play this for free (and don’t have the budget to get it, any games I get need high replay value) and started watching a couple of Let’s Plays, but I’d rather just get the full story first and then watch their (the Let’s Players) reactions to it. So thank you for this video, and thanks to the commenters that gave extra explanation to what’s going on with The One/Other.

Note the crucifixion pose the other makes when he dies as Carl

Amazing

What's the song that plays over the supercut at the end?